2012 campaign. >> president barack obama and governor mitt romney preparing to face off in their first presidential debate. >> and here in denver, the candidates know what happens on this debate stage certainly could help sway the election. >> a president struggling with a slow economy, hoping to boost confidence in his leadership. >> i'm not fighting to create democratic and republican jobs, i'm fighting to create american jobs. >> a challenger fighting in the poll es trying to connect with average americans. after months of attacks on the campaign trial, it's time for these candidates to confront each other face to face. >> we will win this election, we will finish what we started! >> i will do better than this president has done for the american people! >> in colorado tonight, barack obama and mitt romney in their first presidential debate. >> these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward. >> what i'm most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing. >> two men with different vision on issues v

is re-elected. obama care will be fully installed, i think that will mean a whole different way of life for people who counted on the insurance they had in the past. premiums will go up $2,500 per family. if i'm elected, we'll put in place the kind of principles i put in my own state, and each state will craft their own programs to get sured, and we'll get cost cares down. if the president were elected, you will see 4 million people who will lose medicare advantage, hospitals and providers that will no longer accept medicare patients. i'll restore the $716 million to medicare. and military, if the president is re-elected you will see dramatic cuts. the secretary of defense said this will be devastating. i had not cut our commitment to our military. i had get america's middle class working and keep the military strong. thank you, jim. >> thank you, mr. president. the next debate, the vice presidential event on thursday, october 11th at center college in danville, kentucky. for now, from the university of denver, i'm jim lehrer, thank you, and good night. [ applause ] >> they started

enormous pressure on president obama and governor romney right now. we're asking debate watchers, those who watched the debate to the history books. tonight, just like we will after every upcoming debate, we're breaking it down, issue by issue. this means more talk from the candidate on a particular topic. looking at some of the totals, we'll show you what's going on. but, first, here are some of the highlights from the first presidential debate. >> what things would i cut from spending? first of all, i will eliminate all programs by this test. if they don't pass it. is the program so critical, it's worth boring money from china to pay for it? obama care is on my list. i apologize mr. president. jim, i'm sorry, i had stop the subsidy to pbs. i love big bird, like you too. but i won't keep on spending money to borrow money from china to pay for. i'll take programs that are currently good programs but could be run more efficiently at the state level and send them to state. and make government more efficient, cut back the number of employees, combine agencies and departments, cutbac